2015 Headline Free Agents

[Happy Days]

Re: 2015 Headline Free Agents

Jack Steven would make an excellent Griffon replacement. Pity he's a dick and can't kick (but so was and neither could Griffon).

The Andrew Swallow model of "superstar"; when everyone sucks but you suck the least.

[bulldogtragic]

Re: 2015 Headline Free Agents

The idea the WBFC could get a star FA signing like Dangerfield was not really realistic. But if we can win and play an exciting brand with a future forward line of guns, could we pitch hard to Dangerfield? We have no concerns with long contracts and if the scuttlebutt of Geelong landing him is true, the salary can't be as enormous as the open market value.

An exciting brand, an exciting future and some wins this year might just give us a good chance to be a contender to get some free agents coming into the club.

[Maddog37]

Re: 2015 Headline Free Agents

I would wait another year or two before topping up.

[azabob]

Re: 2015 Headline Free Agents

The idea the WBFC could get a star FA signing like Dangerfield was not really realistic. But if we can win and play an exciting brand with a future forward line of guns, could we pitch hard to Dangerfield? We have no concerns with long contracts and if the scuttlebutt of Geelong landing him is true, the salary can't be as enormous as the open market value.

An exciting brand, an exciting future and some wins this year might just give us a good chance to be a contender to get some free agents coming into the club.

Honestly BT, I think we should put the FA cue in the rack.

We have paid big money for Tom Boyd and we realistically need to start planning for what we are going to offer Bontempelli, Stringer, Liberatore, Dahlhaus, MaCrae and I am sure there are some I have forgotten.

[bulldogtragic]

Re: 2015 Headline Free Agents

Honestly BT, I think we should put the FA cue in the rack.

We have paid big money for Tom Boyd and we realistically need to start planning for what we are going to offer Bontempelli, Stringer, Liberatore, Dahlhaus, MaCrae and I am sure there are some I have forgotten.

There's different levels of FA salary though. I would still look at Rance if the offer was good.

We are minimum cap which is about $450,000 per year under, plus the cap increases annually. So I'm not too concerned just yet, plus our older players who might have two years left are well paid, and Minno and some others might need to have a slight pay reduction. Everyone likes winning (Lake, Frawley etc), if we are winning we may get some player manager interest.

[Greystache]

Re: 2015 Headline Free Agents

At the risk of being shot down I wouldn't bother chasing Dangerfield, he's a good player but his reputation is better than his output. He plays mostly inside (not as well as Libba) and doesn't do enough on the outside. For what he'd cost we could spend the money better.

My preferred next FA target would still be a gun key defender with pace or a lockdown small defender. They'd cost less too.

Appreciate you're not saying we should only be chasing Dangerfield btw BT

[bulldogtragic]

Re: 2015 Headline Free Agents

At the risk of being shot down I wouldn't bother chasing Dangerfield, he's a good player but his reputation is better than his output. He plays mostly inside (not as well as Libba) and doesn't do enough on the outside. For what he'd cost we could spend the money better.

My preferred next FA target would still be a gun key defender with pace or a lockdown small defender. They'd cost less too.

Appreciate you're not saying we should only be chasing Dangerfield btw BT

I could never shoot you down, let you down or desert you Rick.

Rance is the interest realistically, I'm sure Adelaide will throw everything and sign him. But it's interesting to hope when we offer B grade players $550,000 a year, they will say yes (ie Lonergan). Or better yet, we offer to better players and lesser coin. Apart from hoping Richmond have a poor year for normal reasons, I hope we can offer Rance a better view of potential success. Then I think it's topping up with players wanting a flag (Rivers, Lake, Frawley etc) who will take unders to have the chance.

[GVGjr]

Re: 2015 Headline Free Agents

At the risk of being shot down I wouldn't bother chasing Dangerfield, he's a good player but his reputation is better than his output. He plays mostly inside (not as well as Libba) and doesn't do enough on the outside. For what he'd cost we could spend the money better.

My preferred next FA target would still be a gun key defender with pace or a lockdown small defender. They'd cost less too.

Appreciate you're not saying we should only be chasing Dangerfield btw BT

We need someone with experience though as our age and experience profile is going to take a hit in the coming seasons. We have just 5 players with 100 games of experience and only Crameri has a chance of getting there this year providing he plays 21 games.
It's very hard to challenge for the 8 with a list like we have so I think we need to position ourselves for an experienced player.

He would be a very hard player for us to land but we are almost obligated to test the waters with him.
While I tend to agree that a key position defender should be a priority finding one will be difficult.

[Doc26]

Re: 2015 Headline Free Agents

The idea the WBFC could get a star FA signing like Dangerfield was not really realistic. But if we can win and play an exciting brand with a future forward line of guns, could we pitch hard to Dangerfield? We have no concerns with long contracts and if the scuttlebutt of Geelong landing him is true, the salary can't be as enormous as the open market value.

An exciting brand, an exciting future and some wins this year might just give us a good chance to be a contender to get some free agents coming into the club.

Might not be as difficult as we think.
Just tweeted by the man himself.

@Dangerfield32

#TheBont is my new favorite but my all time is #Pav must be the snozz #theycanplay

And with the surety that Danger won't be attracting the primary tag each week

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: 2015 Headline Free Agents

We absolutely should be all over Dangerfield.

He's an elite player in the midfield and up forward - imagine him next to the likes of Bont, Libba, Macrae, Stringer etc.

We should be able to draft/trade/sign a lock down small defender cheaply, whilst finding a key back is the other piece of the puzzle, but if we had an opportunity to get Dangerfield we'd be crazy not to go after it.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: 2015 Headline Free Agents

At the risk of being shot down I wouldn't bother chasing Dangerfield, he's a good player but his reputation is better than his output. He plays mostly inside (not as well as Libba) and doesn't do enough on the outside. For what he'd cost we could spend the money better.

I understand what you are saying, but he played injured last season. The year before that he came second or third in the Brownlow didn't he? Played a blinder today v Norf and more outside to utilize his pace/skill.

He would suit our versatile dynamics perfectly (Bont, Stringer, Macrae, Danger, Jong, Stevens are all big mids to compliment Dahl, Honey, Hrovat, Hunter, JJ).

[1eyedog]

Re: 2015 Headline Free Agents

At the risk of being shot down I wouldn't bother chasing Dangerfield, he's a good player but his reputation is better than his output. He plays mostly inside (not as well as Libba) and doesn't do enough on the outside. For what he'd cost we could spend the money better.

My preferred next FA target would still be a gun key defender with pace or a lockdown small defender. They'd cost less too.

Appreciate you're not saying we should only be chasing Dangerfield btw BT

He's a gun no doubt and one of the best 5 players in the comp and far better than just a good player. We should look at him and express our interest to his manager (which I'm sure JMac has already done and likely most clubs have done as well) but we can't sell the farm for him and that's where our problem lies because a few clubs can and will.

[bulldogtragic]

Re: 2015 Headline Free Agents

It's about the money. My guess is Picken, Boyd, Murphy & Morris are on combined $1.6m a year. Assuming about 400,000 each. If two retire at years end that's leaves say $800,000. New recruits might be $200,000. So left over is $600,000. The extra cap is $450,000. If Minno took a small pay cut, delistings, we might have around $1,400,000 with cap increase too.

So it depends on how Boyds salary is to be structured and if Wood leaves as a free agent. But we could have $800,000 if we really wanted to go FA hunting. I think the key to winning FAs now is contract length (Buddy 11, *Boyd 7, Walker 6 etc). A 5 or 6 year offer at $800,000 is a serious offer. If we can keep showing signs of being a genuine contender in the not too distant future, then we can at least choose what we want to do.

[Topdog]

Re: 2015 Headline Free Agents

We need someone with experience though as our age and experience profile is going to take a hit in the coming seasons. We have just 5 players with 100 games of experience and only Crameri has a chance of getting there this year providing he plays 21 games.
It's very hard to challenge for the 8 with a list like we have so I think we need to position ourselves for an experienced player.

He would be a very hard player for us to land but we are almost obligated to test the waters with him.
While I tend to agree that a key position defender should be a priority finding one will be difficult.

Was going to reply that it shouldnt be much of an issue next year as we would have a heap in the 80's and 90's by then but its worse than I first thought.

[GVGjr]

Re: 2015 Headline Free Agents

Was going to reply that it shouldnt be much of an issue next year as we would have a heap in the 80's and 90's by then but its worse than I first thought.

Hawthorn had something like 10 players that had played more than 100 games of football today plus they had 4 or 5 around the 80 game mark that should get to 100 games by the end of the season. A lot of their boys at this level of experience didn't start as Hawks players either which is an indication of how well they build their list.
Our experience profile is of course vastly different which is why I think we need to look at free agents that could help us in that area.